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// Prologue: The First Settlement 
// Story: Civilization: The World on your Hooves 
// by SterlingC 
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“Every civilization needs to start somewhere. Its founders roam across grass and sand, searching for a place to lay down their homes. Where would they place their homes? The land has to provide food and water for survival. It has to protect them from any sort of living harm, whether it be hurricanes, hunters, or heat. Then there’s the other ponies. How are they going to handle so many ponies at once? There’s gotta be laws and agreements. There will be inevitably be conflicts with others who want the riches of the land and what they sow. If one reflects on all these things, it’s a wonder a civilization like Equestria can survive…





The Friendship Express whirred to a stop at a rustic train station. The train station was made of a single building, its roof neatly arranged with hay. On the station’s wooden platform lay a wooden sign that messily wrote, ‘Welcome to Ponyville’. There were a few ponies of different sizes waiting with smiles on their faces for their loved ones to step out of the train, eager to see them again.

As the train came to a stop and its doors opened, all the passengers began trotting out in an orderly manner. Eventually, a brown colt with a propeller beanie hat stepped out of the train with a deep sigh, his head facing downwards to the station’s wooden planks. The town called Ponyville was a far cry from the bustling city of Manehattan. He spent most of the train ride thinking about all the arcades that he would play on every day with his fellow colt friends. His mother, knowing how much he loved video games, already tried to cheer him up with a game of Pac-Colt, but Button Mash wouldn’t have any of it. All he could think about was not being able to have friends to compete against with his favourite arcade games…

"Wooooo!!! Go Button Mash!!! Beat that high score!!!"
"All he has to do is complete one more level of Pac-Colt and he'll break the other finalist's score and win the tournament!"
"Hey, he just beat the high score! He's done it everypony! He's won the Manehattan Regional PacColt Tournament!!!!
"Button Mash! Button Mash! Button Mash! Button Mash..."...

All the shouts and screams for Button Mash's victory at PacColt were what remained on Button Mash's mind as he claimed victory for the biggest PacColt tournament in Manehattan. Button Mash gave himself a weak, nostalgic smile after remembering that it would be his last appearance at the regional PacColts. Now he would have to enter a place he'd never set his hooves on. The only other item he had of note from that tournament was the small golden trophy he carried along with him. It was a small statue of a golden ball with a large mouth, ready to eat up any pellets and ghosts that stood in its way. He could never leave that trophy behind; it was his pride and joy of being among the greats at one of his favourite games. Button Mash softly touched his saddlebag to make sure his trophy remained inside his bag. Just as he finished, a call for his name rang out from a familiar voice,

“Come on Button Mash! We’ve got to get settled in our new home! The sooner we settle in, the sooner you can go out and make some new friends!” 

Button Mash heard the call of his mother into a town he never heard of, save the super-duper “Mane 6” who saved Equestria from the grips of changelings and draconnequus. Sure it was cool for a town to have such an awesome group of daring and heroic mares living in a large, imposing castle. 

But none of them enjoyed video games as much as he did! Button Mash had a plethora of single-player games, from the simple yet unforgettable PacColt to the complex worldbuilder known as Manecraft. But the best fun was to be found in gaming tournaments and co-op games, like 'Pony Kart' and 'Rhythm Clouds'! Those games were great alone, but they were nowhere near as fun without at least one other pony to play along. Button Mash took another deep sigh before continuing his slow trot away from the train station and into the streets of suburban Ponyville.

Button Mash’s new home was just past Ponyville’s Town Square. At the city’s square, Button Mash looked up and saw ponies of all kinds eagerly talking with one another. He could see a large structure that towered above Ponyville that resembled a central civic building. Ponies brought out their best smiles everywhere and often, as if they were preparing for his arrival. It was something that Button never really took notice in Manehattan. There, ponies always held a frown unless you already knew them beforehand. Button Mash also noticed a rose-coloured mare selling flowers of many colours to her customers, a cross-eyed grey mare who constantly bumped herself into other ponies with her clumsy flying skills, and another grey pony pulling her cello case on a cart. Button Mash had to admit, it was cool seeing ponies of all kinds interacting with one another like this. But he couldn’t see any colts in sight! Fat chance for him to make gaming friends in Ponyville. 

Eventually, the mother and son arrived at their humble abode. It was a two-story home with all of the basic amenities that Button Mash never really cared much for: 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms on the 2nd floor. What mattered most to him was enough room to play his console games, and that his mom guaranteed to his relief. Just as Button Mash was about to begin surveying the living room, Button’s mom looked down to Button Mash and lovingly directed,

“Let’s get all our stuff out first, honey. The moving ponies will come with your consoles and our other things tomorrow. Once we get our stuff out, I’ve got some chores to do. In the meantime, you can go out and find some colts and fillies to show off your Gamecolt!” Button Mash nodded slowly before he began unpacking their stuff. This was going to be a long day…